Fishing a stream for smallmouth bass using a 4” senko, whats the best hook? A weighted one or just a plain hook? There are also a lot of fallen trees, so i lose a lot of rigs

Unweighted

A quality weedless wacky style hook works good. 

Owners Jungle weedless wacky hook or similar style fished weightless works good. I use size 1 for 5”.

Tom

Something like a 3/0 j hook (not ewg) Texas rigged and texposed will get you through branches about as well as anything. Maybe a 2/0. I don’t have a 4” senko to say for sure. 

I like a 2/0-4/0 roboworm rebarb hook. 

Texas rigged, weightless 

Definitely weightless. Senkos just don’t move the same when they have a weight pulling them down. The magic is in the weightless fall, even in current. I’d go with a 2/0 EWG. 

11 minutes ago, Finessegenics said:

Definitely weightless. Senkos just don’t move the same when they have a weight pulling them down. The magic is in the weightless fall, even in current. I’d go with a 2/0 EWG. 

So texas rigged?

8 minutes ago, Gregorym38 said:

So texas rigged?

yes! If you can get away with wacky I’d try that too but it would get hung up a lot more than a Texas rig.

23 minutes ago, Finessegenics said:

yes! If you can get away with wacky I’d try that too but it would get hung up a lot more than a Texas rig.

Ok. That makes sense. Thanks!

You might consider a Chicken Rig or weedless Neko rig if you want a little weight, especially in heavier cover.  If you want traditional wacky or Neko movement that is more weedless that just a weedless hook, there are several hooks on the market that do well like the cover Neko.

 

 

If the weather conditions allow always weightless, for max erratic movement.  You can actually get a walk the dog movement along the bottom if you jerk and slack line with a rhythm.  I often get bit while the bait is at rest after some erratic movements.  I Texas rig most of the time with a #3 EWG thin wire hook.  Thin wire makes the sticking so much easier.  

try using a VMC cross over ring and hook it Neko style, you will need a small nail weight in the nose of the worm, you can put a weed guard hook on it. I kill them in the creeks and streams around middle TN  

I like the standard Gami EWGs in a 2/0 or 3/0 at the biggest.  The wire is light enough to let the bait fall naturally and penetrates really well with lighter spinning gear, but its plenty strong.  The angle of the point lays pretty flat with the worm so you can texpose it easily without putting a kink in the bait and comes through light cover well.

Weightless at first and see how that works.  If you need to add weight start light and then increase the weight as needed.